A Momentary Lapse

One Sheet:

Myra Melford, Mark Dresser, Chris Speed, Briggan Krauss, Eyvind Kang, Andrew Drury. What more is there to say? A stellar group of avant-jazz notables from New York’s downtown plays Drury’s intricate music with volcanic intensity. A Momentary Lapse is Andrew Drury’s breakthrough CD, putting him on the map as a virtuosic drummer with uncommon compositional vision and a knack for creating groups that have a serious vibe.

The nine compositions unselfconsciously meld jazz, rock, and chamber idioms and are animated by Drury’s drum-influenced sense of melody, form, and energy. Stemming from the avant-garde jazz tradition with elements of the AACM, Stravinsky, and Coltrane serving as reference points, A Momentary Lapse should appeal to listeners interested in creative, acoustic composition and improvisation played with arch intelligence and cataclysmic exuberance.

Exceptionally well recorded, A Momentary Lapse provides a fascinating glimpse of Myra Melford as a sideperson in a larger group context than is customary for her. She and Dresser shine throughout, making this disk a must-have for fans of their music.

Reviews:

CKUT: Voted Top 20 best for 2003 in Jazz Amuck category

PARISTRANSATLANTIC

As a former student of Edward Blackwell, you'd expect [Drury] to swing hard and fast, and you won't be disappointed; even more impressive are his composition chops -- these nine tracks run the gamut from hard-driving, almost funky, binary ("The Schwartzes") via tight Eastern European-inflected canons ("Växjö Kollektiv") and sleek balladry ("Copalis") to metrically fiendish unisons ("Anniversary of a Non-Marriage"). . . Drury has assembled one hell of a band. . . Kang and Melford are on superb form throughout, both revealing prodigious techniqe and an encyclopaedic knowledge of their instruments, while Krauss and Speed complement each other beautifully. . . Drury's charts wisely leave enough space for everyone to stretch out, but nonetheless retain their distinctive identity. John Zorn must be kicking himself he didn't snaffle this one up for Tzadik.- Dan Warburton